Farewell 2010!

It's been a long, long year, but when I look back to where we were one year ago, with the old farmhouse still sitting by the road, I can't believe how much progress we've made!  

Since the house is still such a mess inside, we decided to put our Christmas tree up outside and decorate it for the birds.  The grandkids came up from Columbia to help.  Sophie made the final cut with help from Laura and Tom.

We all strung popcorn and cranberries and rolled magnolia pods in Crisco and bird seed.

The birds loved the Christmas tree!

Soon after the grandkids left, the snow started falling.  We ended up with about 4". 

 It was beautiful while it lasted

The guineas refused to step on that cold white stuff.

The chickens took one look and turned around to spend the day in their house.

Even the cardinals seemed to shiver in the cold.

Back in the farmhouse, we installed a 9' pot rack that we bought on Craig's List 

from an old butcher shop in Monck's Corner, South Carolina.

My plywood countertops were removed and replaced with granite.

Donnie and Steve had to remove my old/new sink so the granite could be installed.

It's a really heavy cast iron sink!

Donnie made windowsills for my kitchen windows.

We are using leftover tin from the ceiling as backsplashes.

It's starting to look like a working kitchen!

And the bathroom sinks were installed!  I can brush my teeth in the house now.

It might be a little warmer around here, too.

Maybe Reese won't have to lie quite so close to the heater!

Happy New Year from Finca de las Piedras, York, SC!

Cabinets and Ceilings

A lot of what we have been doing lately doesn't show - rewiring all of the old part of the house and closing up holes so someday we can turn on the heat! It's been 10 degrees several nights this week and we're huddled by the fireplace most of the time. We did manage to get some work done in the kitchen. Tom and Donnie spent four days on ladders installing the tin ceiling.

Gary and his helpers brought the kitchen cabinets that he has been building in his workshop.

We moved the poor refrigerator for what I hope is the last time!

Steve installed can lights around the ceiling.

The cabinets will have beaded board fronts eventually and there will be an island in the middle of the kitchen with an old pot rack above it (all after the floors are finished).

We drove to Raleigh and bought an old sink that we found on Craig's List.  It will be installed as soon as we get countertops.  The next step will be to refinish the floors but we have to move everything out of the house to do that.  In the meantime, since the house is such a mess, we plan to put our Christmas tree outside and decorate it for the birds.  Grandkids will be here this week-end to help.

Merry Christmas from the farm!

Red!!

We added some red to the farmhouse over the last couple of weeks. 

 A red roof and a red stove!

Walter, the Aga installer, came and spent two days putting our Aga back together.

It is full of insulation! 

After Walter got everything adjusted, Donnie and Steve installed the stovepipe

and turned on the burner.  

The Aga is beautiful and ready to cook my ham for Thanksgiving.

Donnie, Steve, Kenny and Joey finished installing our red tin roof.

Now we just need siding, doors, columns, steps and grass!

While they finished the roof, we were hiking the Grand Canyon with 

Tom's brother Sonny and his wife Gladys.

It took us 9 hours to hike down the South Kaibab Trail.  

We spent two nights at Phantom Ranch at the bottom and

 it took 10 and 1/2 hours to hike back up the Bright Angel Trail.

I didn't think we'd ever make it back up, but we did!

Indoor Plumbing!!

We returned last week from a much-needed break on Cape Cod.  I taught a photography class at a Leica Seminar in Eastham and we ate lobsters

and more lobsters

and more lobsters

and Wellfleet oysters at the Oyster Festival

and we took photos of water and skies and boats.

When we got back to the farm, we discovered that the plumbers and carpenters had been busy

 installing an indoor toilet!!

and an indoor shower

with HOT water!

We are living in luxury now.

It's a very messy luxury, though, because they also started sanding sheetrock.

Even with everything covered with plastic, there is no way to keep that fine dust 

from coating every surface.

I still have my outdoor kitchen.  Luckily, the weather has been unseasonably warm.

Donnie made the trim for the kitchen windows

and the guys installed it all at once.

Duke Power came yesterday and switched our power from temporary to permanent.  The county has now given us a CO - Certificate of Occupancy, which means we can legally live here (at least in the old part of the house.  The new part still has to pass inspection!)

The only things left in my garden are green tomatoes, cabbage, and peppers.

So I made chow-chow relish

and Jalepeno Jelly.

My new chickens have started laying eggs, but they're still very small compared to those from my old hens.  

Laura loves to carve pumpkins so she made two for the farm

and put them on the grape vine posts.

The moon is gorgeous in October.

Happy Halloween!!